I really like this. (I so say this in all of my reviews to you, don't I?). Anyway, the part about the ghosts was my favorite. It was really powerful. I also like the "what" part. The repetition worked really well.

[The winter moves across the body of the house in intoxicating gasps of slow shock] Amazing opening line.

[chocking ghosts] *choking*

The last stanza is my favorite. I like the image of an "egg-shell horizon," as well as analogy of people as houses, "solitary like so many other city blocks."

I wasn't really able to interpret a decent meaning for the poem. The metaphors are mostly lost on me. The "country kitchens" and "hot bread" and "boiling water" all seem so specific that I was unable to zoom out far enough to see what the house actually stands for. I just see ... a house. But maybe I'm just trying to read too deep into it and find hidden meanings where there aren't any. I don't know.